Stuart Lancaster's England Must Learn Faster on the Job

After a 20-14 defeat to Australia at Twickenham experience was again the name of the game, but England must learn fast if they're to improve this autumn

Such was the chasm of calm and execution between England and Australia at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon that even rugby's most fairweather supporter could have told you what the main difference between both side's were, and it's tended to be buzzword of Stuart Lancaster's tenure in charge.

Often, England's experience and lack of know how has translated into youthful exuberance and thrilling results; check the wins against France and Ireland in the Six Nations, but during the tour to South Africa and the autumn series thus far, inexperience is being used the get-out clause and a reason for optimism.

"There are lots of positives we can take from the game but the reality is we needed to have taken some more of the opportunities than we created, particularly in the second half, in the last 20 minutes when we felt our tempo would pay," Lancaster said after defeat to the Wallabies. "But we didn't do that and they're the lessons we have to learn going into a massive game against South Africa next weekend."

Lancaster's side need to learn fast should they emerge from the autumn series.

The problem is, with two matches in a fortnight which will rightly or wrongly dictate England's World Cup seeding for the campaign on home soil in 2015, the lessons are racking up for Lancaster's men.

If the win against Fiji was an opportunity to dust off the cobwebs, then Australia represented an chance to extinguish the problems from the 2-0 series defeat to South Africa and execute a clinical performance against a side on their knees.

As in Johannesburg and against Fiji last week, England sauntered through the opening exchanges with more questions than answers for Lancaster over England's use of possession. Australia's pack, led by man of the match Michael Hooper, left everything at the breakdown; the catalyst for England's game disintegrating.

Without the flair to expose teams at international level, Lancaster has built this England side on the fundamentals, and when they go to wall, they're there for the taking. Granted, when the opportunities came England looked dangerous, particularly in the second half but crucial decision making let them down.

England's desire to inject pact into the game often backfired.

For Danny Care and Ben Youngs, both of whom add a verve to an at times lifeless midfield, attacks presented a catch-22 situation. The opening score for Manu Tuilagi, who despite his success against lesser nations at breaking the line, must surely look outside him more often, came from a quick tap from the Quins half-back.

Too often in the second half, penalties were preceded by hasty taps, or unnecessary kicks into the corner. Admirable it might be, but England, in a grotesque purple kit for the visit of Australia; played every attacking minute like it were the last.

Countless situations called for a Martin Johnson character, to look at the wider picture. Instead England have an ambitious group which will have to learn from their mistakes in order to shrug off that ignorance. With the Springboks the visitors on Saturday, they require some last-minute cramming.